Ask Spooky Scary Skeletons

[Vanya]

All of the warning bells in Vanya's head were blaring like a church cathedral at the King's wedding. She was from Dathomir, after all, and she had seen plenty of Dark Side witches, predatory hermits, and the like to know where this was going to go. It was no coincidence that the lady was at the center of whatever Dark Side corruption infested this place.

You're the one at the heart of all this darkness, she said bluntly. Her eyes flicked around the lair, knowing that a woman like this was going to be strongest in her own home. It was the kind of place she didn't want to stay, and they would need to find a way to flush her out.

Of course, she couldn't say this audibly to Shaw.

She took a step forward, putting herself between Shaw and Auntie Elspeth. Her violet eyes were almost ablaze as she looked at the woman, suddenly understanding just how precarious their situation here was.

Her hand flicked back behind her a bit, hoping Shaw would see the signal to start backing out of the "building."

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

"Darkness? What tommyrot!" Elspeth let out a laugh that echoed off the cavern walls. Ripples rolled across the dark pool at the back of the cave. "Someone forgot to drink their positivity potion this morning!" Boney hands, empty only seconds before, waved a honeyed draught at Vanya, candlelight reflected in every fleck of the golden liquid.

Unfortunately, Shaw was a seventeen year old boy. Not that he could blame it all on his age and his gender. Even for a seventeen year boy Shaw could be exceptionally oblivious. It was always anyone's guess, including Shaw's, if he would be able to pick up on non-verbal social cues or if they would go right over his head. Of course he noticed Warden Vanya flicking her hand behind her back, presumably so that Elspeth wouldn't see what she was doing.

Shaw's gaze followed her line of erratic pointing and, for the first time, noticed that same squirrel that they had chased perched atop a bookshelf behind them. It was just sitting there and staring at them. Still taunting him. Shaw glanced back at Warden Vanya and then back at the squirrel again. Did... she she want him to keep an eye on the squirrel while she dealt with Elspeth? He shot the warden a Don't worry I gotchu look.

Then he nonchalantly wandered over toward the bookshelf, playing it totally cool by rubbing the back of his neck and humming the tune to that song Elspeth had been singing. That squirrel wouldn't get away with anything, not with Shaw keeping an eye on it.

"You don't want to go outside, dearie!" Elspeth would say, as if she had read Vanya's thoughts. "You'll get all wet!" On cue both Jedi would hear raindrops falling. There had been sunlight moments earlier, when they had first entered the cave. Now there was a torrential downpour. @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Shaw wasn't backing out of the cave, and Vanya's handwaving became more emphatic. Why wasn't he getting it?!

She heard the rain beginning to fall outside, and Vanya knew they were in a bad spot down here. She could feel ever muscle in her body beginning to tense, and she nearly reached for her lightsaber then and there.

A little rain never hurt anyone, she said. She started drawing the Essence into herself before her left hand shot upward and unleashed a flash of blinding light directly into the face of the hag, leaping back and moving over to literally grab Shaw and drag him toward the exit.

Let's go! she shouted. You know, there was always the chance Vanya was wrong. She wasn't wrong, but you know, there was the chance.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

"And ruin your lovely hair?" Elspeth yet resisted, taking another step toward Vanya. "Tut tut! You don't want to do that! You are a lovely young thing. Those eyes of yours remind me of when I was a pretty young—ACK!"

Light shot out of the young warden's hand and blinded the elderly woman. The last thing Shaw would see was her dark shawl abandoned on the floor of the cavern and the last thing he would hear was a string of curses as she stumbled backward into her cauldron before Warden Vanya grabbed ahold of him and drug him out.

Staggering out from the mouth of the cave and the shelter it provided, both Jedi would be soaked in a matter of seconds. Heavy rain drops beat against their skin and doused their clothing. A dark cloud laden with rain sat directly over them high up in the sky. If Vanya cast her gaze skyward she would notice that it was clear everywhere else, with not a storm cloud in sight, except for this patch of woods. Shaw didn't notice that because his gaze was cast downward, toward his feet. And not just because rain was running down his face and making it hard to see.

"Do... do you feel that?" he asked the older Jedi, glancing over at her. The ground beneath their feet was shaking. Rumbling almost, and the next moment Elspeth would emerge from the mouth of the cave. It had been the light that had washed away her illusion, not the rain, and she was no longer an unassuming old woman with a fresh pot of soup and a warm fire to recommend her.

Now she was her true self. A blue, warty skinned hag that stood over eight feet tall in spite of her hunch. Yellow eyes stared at the two Jedi from between strands of long, tangled hair, and she flashed them a wicked grin, teeth as black as the night and as sharp as daggers. A fallen log was flung their way. Just to get the fight started. @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya wanted to keep running and regroup, but she knew how forests like this were. There probably wasn't a safe place around here for a couple of miles that hadn't been warped and twisted by "Auntie." No, it was likely going to be a "stand and fight" situation whether she wanted it to be or not.

Still, at least they had vacated the actual building itself. Or rather the cave. That was where her power would have been most concentrated, and out here, the woman would have to deal with the spirits of nature that had long been quashed under this hag's darkness. Out here, there was the Light and it had not been entirely snuffed out.

Vanya's violet lightsaber burst to life in her hands, matching the near-glow in her violet eyes as she turned to stare down the hag.

Do you know how to commune with nature and animals? she asked Shaw, hoping the answer was "yes." If it wasn't, he was about to learn on the job. It's all a part of you. Of the Essence. Just draw on it, and pull it in to us. The forest itself wants to be rid of this rot, she said.

The rest... would be up to him to figure out. To draw in the plants, trees, and animals - yes, even the squirrels - to rid the forest itself of this beast. The Nightsisters were the immune system of Dathomir, and out here... the Jedi would recruit nature itself to root out the infection.

Vanya's lightsaber came down, slicing the log cleanly in two even as the Essence roiled down the blade in order to force the pieces of wood to the side around her. The Nightsister darted forward, bringing her saber up in a quick strike that would no doubt be deflected or evaded, but at this point, Vanya's only goal was to keep the monstrosity busy. It was up to Shaw and the Squirrels now. (New band name?)

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Stumbling back and away from the mouth of the cave, Shaw's horrified brown eyes would dart from the giant crone looming over them to Warden Vanya, who was asking him if he knew how to commune with animals and nature. If he wasn't so painfully aware of his racing heartbeat and the hairs standing straight up along the back of his neck, he might have imagined this was a scout troop field trip or something. "What is that thing!?" he exclaimed. Elsepth, if that was even her real name, looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. And not one of the cloying, happily ever after fairy tales either. This was one of those fairy tales that parents told their kids to scare them into obedience.

"You should have listened!" the hag chided, wagging an elongated finger at them. Each fingernail was stained a sickly yellow, with dried blood and dirt caked beneath the long, sharp keratin that looked like it could rend clothing and flesh with a single stroke. She rolled her bulging, yellow eyes for emphasis. Even outside of her lair, away from the source of her power, she was cocky. Not even Vanya's impressive trick with the light had swayed her confidence. "Oh, well! Saves me the trouble of washing my dinner! Prewashed!" she cackled, evidently pleased with herself for that one. Shaw seriously doubted that that thing ever washed her food. But also GROSS. She wanted to eat them!

"Commune with the animals?" Shaw repeated, giving the warden a look. Shaw was the worst possible choice to 'commune with the animals.' Animals hated him, with two or three negative experiences for every positive. Sure, Shaw knew what the warden wanted him to do in theory. He had seen Prani do it. He had seen Elidan do it. But that didn't mean it would work. "Just so you know," he called out to the warden, "I'm not very good with animals!" Any animal. Not just squirrels.

But he still had his orders. The teenager took cover behind a large tree where he would hopefully be able to concentrate. He almost wished that Warden Vanya would let him deal with the hag instead while she attuned to nature. That was when he heard the hag crow, in between attacks, "I just love the skin in its salad days! So supple, so juicy!" His skin crawled. Okay. Maybe not.

Shaw took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused. Trying his best to block out the sounds of the fight in the background. Nature itself would begin to answer the call through the force, the living energy that bound all things together, but there was an unmistakable hesitation. The hag had been the corrupter and master of these woods for many years. She would sense it too, snarling at Vanya, "Trying to turn my my pretties against me? My pretties? MY WOODS?" @Phoenix

6/20

 

[Vanya]

Vanya wasn't really listening to Shaw at this point. Not in a blatant attempt to be rude, but because her focus was now honed in on trying not to die. It was a tall order given what she was up against, but she had faced worse.

At least, she hoped she had. She'd faced Sith Masters and abominations. She'd faced infiltration of monstrosities in the minds of her companions, and she'd always come out the other side.

But even more than that, Vanya had other powers on her side. The Radiant energy of the Primal Spirits and the wild flame of the ur-Spirits. She knew techniques that most Jedi didn't, and she - more than nearly anyone else - was uniquely equipped to purge darkness like this.

Dukhi zemli i lesa, uslysh'te moi slova i ochistite etu opukhol, her voice boomed and echoed through the forest around them, and for a moment, Shaw would feel a wave of warmth wash over him, shoving back the cold of the rain and filling him with energy. It was like a hand reaching down to help him after he stumbled. Most notably, though, it wasn't Vanya's "hand" that helped him. It was someone or something that he couldn't see. Perhaps something from the forest. Somewhere in the distance, Shaw would feel that her heard a faint giggle but would see no one. Someone or something was here to help him.

This didn't seem to sit well with Granny who spun to look at her in rage, screeching and charging forward.

The distraction of whatever Vanya had just done caught her momentarily off guard and she almost missed her dodge, narrowly avoiding having her torso split in two as she dove to the side, losing her footing on a root and actually landing in the mud a moment later. Still, she was back on her feet only a moment later, still on the back foot as another swipe nearly took her head off.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Something nearly tangible and yet wholly beyond Shaw's understanding reached out and touched him. It felt like a hand. Not his own. Not even Warden Vanya's. Just... a hand. Warmth seeped from its fingertips and spread throughout his entire body and drove away the cold. His heart froze and then pounded again with energy borrowed and renewed.

It felt like he had been allowed a glimpse into another world, into another dimension that he did not know nor did he belong in. He thought he heard a giggle. Saw a flash of red, but wherever he looked there was nothing. Just the forest staring back at him, and it did feel like it was staring back at him now. Like it had suddenly come alive after a long slumber. There had been a shift in the air, so marked that even Shaw could feel it. Where there had been hesitation, there was now resolution.

The wind had flared up, powerful gusts that shook branches and carried fallen leaves out of sight and nearly pushed Shaw stumbling into a nearby tree. The hag fought against it, still single minded in her pursuit of Vanya as her claws lashed out at the warden in a flurry of strikes and slices. Dark clouds hung overhead, and the forest had become so dim that only the hag's yellow eyes aflame and Vanya's violet lightsaber lit up the darkness.

There was a blinding flash of lightening followed by an ear splitting clap of thunder, and when the Jedi opened their eyes the hag no longer towered over Vanya. Roots and climbing plants had slunk around her elongated arms and legs and drug her to her knees in the mud. Another flash of lightening, and in its light the hag's twisted features writhed and struggled. "STOP IT! STOP IT!" Elspeth's sweet, imploring voice blended with that of the hag's croak before the forest was plunged into darkness again. There was a growl. A shriek. A snarl. It was a cacophony of different animal sounds, and for a second or two Shaw even thought he could hear voices—whispers, screams, and even crying—but he saw nothing. Saw no one.

One more flash of lightening and clap of thunder, and then the sounds stopped. Only the howl of the wind and the patter of falling rain drops. The hag was still kneeling in the mud, bound hand and foot, head slumped forward and wet, tangled hair falling down to cover her face. Poised for the killing blow. @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya wasn't the type to either hesitate or offer false mercy. Shaw had finally found the heart of the forest and his own balance, and it reflected as the hag was pulled back and down to the ground. When it had seemed darkest and she'd been close to being overwhelmed, help came.

Vanya didn't say a word or hesitate. There was no standing slowly over her enemy or gloating, just a single lightsaber blow downward, slashing the body of the hag in two.

In truth, Vanya doubted the "woman" was dead, but at least the threat was neutralized.

She dropped to her knees, letting her lightsaber flash out as the shake of adrenaline finished coursing through her. She felt... tired. More than she would have expected and she wasn't sure if it was some foul magic or something else that sapped her of her strength.

She waited until Shaw came nearer and looked up at him with a sober smile.

You did a good job, she said to him, not actually moving to get up yet and allowing herself a few moments of rest.

You feel okay? she asked, sure there was some sort of query or education she was supposed to be doing but not really knowing what that actually was.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

There was no time to plead. No time for the hag to try and talk her way or bargain her way out of the fate that awaited her at the end of Vanya's blade. A silver tongue and sleight of hand wouldn't do her any good now. Not even all the magic in the world could save her now. Vanya swung her saber downward, and the purple blade drew the hag's last breath and rent her in two.

The front half of her body slid forward into the disturbed pile of mud with a sickening plop, the lower half of her corpse still held in place by nature itself until the vines and roots that had held her captive gradually slunk away and returned to their natural place amongst the forest.

Shaw watched the whole thing in silence, heart in his throat as his chest rose and fell with every breath. The teenager approached the other Jedi, brown eyes never straying from Elspeth's corpse. Each limb and muscle somehow felt heavier than normal, threatening to drag him to his knees in the mud, but he remained upright and allowed his breathing to regulate. Whatever strength he had borrowed before, it was gone now. It was just Shaw left.

Warden Vanya's voice stirred his thoughts, and his gaze swiveled from the body in the mud to the Jedi responsible for its demise. He stared down at the older Jedi, eyes occupied by some combination of awe and bewilderment. That was her first thought? To compliment him and ask if he was alright? After everything that had just happened? Everything she had just done? It occurred to him that not many Jedi—not many people would do that. Especially when Shaw wasn't even sure he had actually contributed anything at all to the fight.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he cleared his throat, eyes flicking between the hag and the warden again. "You?" Then, unable to stop the compliment, "You really slayed. Like literally slayed." Not often that that could be said. He brought a shoe up to the hag's arm, nudging it, just to see if she moved. She didn't. "What... what just happened?" he asked the warden. @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Vanya felt more exhausted with each passing moment, and she was thankful that the fight was at least over now. She wasn't sure how much more she would have had in her if things had been dragged out longer. Despite the hag being gone, she could still feel the darkness looming here. A light was trying to return, but it would be... slow.

I think I will be, she said. She was sure that as a Warden she was supposed to appear the pinnacle of unflappable and never appear run down or fatigued, but that just wasn't reality. She saw no point in setting people's expectations to be unrealistic. Life was hard and what they did as Jedi was - arguably - even harder.

He mentioned her slaying and her eyes fell down to the corpse. She was sure there were plenty of Jedi who would have sought out some nonlethal option or the like, but that just had never been her way. It felt almost wrong to not deal with the problem definitively. She was sure there were those in the Order who would have disagreed.

She motioned for him to take a seat as she hoisted herself up off of her knees and onto a tree trunk that looked like it had been knocked over in the chaos of the fight.

The Jedi are great at teaching about one aspect of the Force, she said, cautiously and almost hesitantly. There was a wealth of information that was frowned on by the rest of the Order and plenty more - like White Magic - that shouldn't be taught to Padawans. Even so, there was utility in having small inklings of it given to them so they were not naive to it.

But there are many other views about it and other facets that you aren't taught. You tapped into one of those facets. It's the same Force, but the balance here was wrong, she said, knowing she wasn't explaining this well. Knowing she was going to leave way more questions with her very poor explanation of the Spirits than she answered.

The forest itself is alive. You're taught to feel the tension between all things, but those things often have wills of their own, she said, looking over and expecting a blank look based on her terrible explanation. This was probably why she didn't have an apprentice...

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Turning his back on the hag took more courage than he would have thought, and he found himself glancing back over his shoulder once or twice just to make sure she wasn't moving as he shuffled over, shoes sinking deeper into the mud with every step. The teenager sat down on the tree trunk next to the warden and listened, brown eyes involuntarily straying to the corpse across from them every once in a while.

As they sat there the downpour would be reduced to a drizzle and then to a sprinkle and at last to nothing at all. No more rain fell, but the dark cloud cover remained for the present. Shaw could already see it moving though, beginning to be blown away by the wind.

Shaw scratched his head, hoping his face didn't look as stupid as he felt. The teenager really was the worst about understanding nuances, and Warden Vanya left him with just as many questions as she did answers. Maybe even more. He understood that Elspeth—whatever she was—had been manipulating these woods. That Vanya had turned nature against its unnatural master, but he didn't understand how or the otherworldly result it produced. Shaw had a lot of questions he wanted to ask the warden. About the winged spirit she had mention. About the essence and the shadow. About the hag. About the crusade, even, as off topic as that was. About that strange language that she had spoken. Her voice had reverberated through the woods and brought it to life.

There was just something very different about Warden Vanya. She was unlike any other Jedi he had ever met. She gave him glimpses into another world, just when he was trying to get a grasp on this world—on the Jedi and the force and everything else he had spent his entire life avoiding. There had to be a wealth of knowledge behind her violet eyes, but she was so down to earth. Very chill. Some of that excitement that he always got whenever he talked to Master Valtiere began to bubble up when he realized that now might be the time to ask her some questions. Now that they weren't tracking a squirrel or fighting for their lives. "What was that language you shouted?" he asked excitedly, brown eyes drifting from the corpse to settle on the warden for good this time. Master Valtiere had told him that the day he stopped asking questions was the day he stopped being Shaw, but maybe it was wise to just open up with one for now. To test the waters. Just because the sephi didn't mind questions didn't mean everyone felt that way. @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

She knew why he kept looking at the hag, and felt the same. It was that sensation of never wanting to turn your back on a potential enemy.

That's a good instinct, she said aloud with a snort, but didn't expand on it further.

When she finally looked over at him after her spiel, she was pretty sure she hadn't made a lot of sense. The two of them kind of stared dumbly at each other for a moment, and Shaw at least had the excuse of being a Padawan. Vanya really should have been more capable in this regard.

I'm not the best teacher, she blurted out. I'm happy to answer questions, though, she added.

Fortunately, he asked something more manageable to her moments later.

It's my native tongue, Dathomiri. There are certain languages that the Spirits have been... hmm, accustomed to speaking in. Our tongue is one of them. I called on them to help you cut out the evil that had festered here, she said.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Realizing that the warden was referring to the body of the hag cut in half like a hamburger bun with extra ketchup, Shaw perked up. Good instinct? And here Shaw thought he was just being paranoid... If he was being honest with himself, maybe it was a little bit of both.

"That's okay," Shaw shrugged, even though he really didn't believe the warden. She was probably just being modest. "I'm not the best student." Not modesty. Just honesty. But he was trying, and every day he hoped that he was getting a little better. Whether or not he actually was—well that was something Master Valtiere or the instructors back at the temple on Takodana were more equipped to answer.

At her answer, "Dathomirian?" he asked before he could stop himself. Hopefully that wasn't offensive. It was just that Shaw had never met a Dathomirian before. There weren't many of them running around the galaxy, not even on Coruscant which was just about the biggest melting pot in the galaxy up until those razelings showed up. Until recently Shaw wouldn't have even know what a Dathomirian was actually, but he had been spending a lot more time in the library lately. Not heaps of time, mind you, but certainly more than the rest of his childhood put together.

For the longest time the only big bad Sith Shaw knew by name was Darth Raze and that was because it was his little swimmers that had shot out all over Shaw's home planet. Now he knew another name that had been all over the news in recent years, but what kid really spent their free time watching the news? Darth Andruil. She had been Dathomirian, too, hadn't she? At least that was what Shaw thought he remembered reading.

"I don't know much about your species," he said honestly. Hopefully that wasn't offensive either. "That winged spirit you mentioned earlier—is that like your god?" Shaw was three for three on potentially offensive comments. @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

Well, we make a great pair then, she said with a humored humph.

Yes, I'm from Dathomir. A Nightsister, she said. The galaxy was a massive place, and in most corners of it, people had no concept of what her people were if they had heard of them at all. Most people didn't even know the planets next to them let alone a remote and isolated planet halfway across the galaxy. Sometimes it was easy to feel like the galaxy was connected, and it was easy to forget just how disconnected so many of its pieces were.

In our own way, we're keepers of the Force, too. Although we don't use those terminologies. Jedi use very... clinical and distant terms for it, she said. It was the same reason she had still chosen to use the terms of her people.

The Winged Spirit and the Fanged Spirit are the avatars of life and death. They live in balance, often in conflict, but they are among those that we honor, yes, she said. The views she held weren't the conventional ones of the Jedi Order, and she was always a bit wary about sharing anything to do with the Fanged Spirit with people. It was so often misinterpreted.

How did you come to the Jedi, Padawan Shaw? she asked after another moment. He had the heart of a warrior whether he recognized it or not. She saw greatness within him that she was certain he didn't see in himself yet. It would be genuinely truthful to say she looked forward to seeing where he would go.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

"A Nightsister?" Shaw repeated, feeling more ignorant and uninformed by the second. That was probably something he was supposed to know about, but he had never heard of a Nightsister before. Off the top of his head, if you asked him, it sounded like a sick name for an all girl emo rock band, but that probably wasn't what it was. He looked over at Warden Vanya. Definitely not what it was.

The warden went on to explain that Nightsisters were keepers of the force, but he hoped that she might expound upon that a little bit more. If not today then in the future should their paths cross again. So far Warden Vanya hadn't shut down any of his questions, even the ones that could have been interpreted as offensive or at the very least tactless. He was discovering that she and Master Valtiere were cut from the same cloth when it came to that.

These Winged Spirits—life and death—they lived in balance and conflict according to the warden. A strange concept to Shaw's still developing mind. Those two descriptions contradicted each other, didn't they? But it did bring another question to mind. "So the Winged Spirit and the Fanged Spirit, life and death, kinda depend on each other? I mean—like—you can't have one without the other?" He paused but decided to ask anyway, "So would that be true for the light side and the dark side of the force as well? That you can't have one without the other?" Maybe it was an unhinged train of thought, but he was curious and was starting to get more comfortable asking her questions. She didn't seem to mind.

Not many knights asked Shaw that. In particular he didn't expect Warden Vanya of all people to ask him a personal question. She probably already had enough on her plate and on her mind without worrying about the backstory of every single padawan she happened to get paired up with for an assignment. Still, she took the time to ask. Yet another thing she and Master Valtiere had in common. "My family dropped me off with the Order," he answered honestly. Dumped him off more like. "Had to relocate after Coruscant got invaded. They just needed some time to get back on their feet." One less mouth to feed, a safe place to go and all that. He didn't voice the part about the Jedi being the last place he wanted to go, but he wondered if maybe that had come across so he added, "But no worries. I'm totally committed now," and gave her a grin and a thumbs up. @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

This was why it probably wasn't prudent to expose Padawans to these unconventional views, but in Vanya's mind it was better that they explore and think through them in the face of an ally than in the face of an enemy. Because the truth was that the exposed face of the Dark Side was one of malice, hatred, and cruelty, but it rarely started like that. It started as a logical argument or a smooth word. The Dark Side was a poison that seeped into your mind with the little lies until it grew so large you could no longer recognize the galaxy for what it was.

You tell me, Padawan Shaw, she said. She could feed him the answers, of course, and she knew the right answer already, but it was much more powerful for him to come to the realization on his own.

Kriff, Vanya, this is a move straight out of Mother Therrit's playbook. She'd be so proud if she saw you now, Vanya thought amusedly to herself.

Is the Dark Side necessary? Are the Dark Side and death synonymous? What makes them the same or different? she posed leading questions to him. Questions that she knew many of the other Clans on her homeworld would have disagreed with her on starkly. They saw it as one and the same. That man and beast were no different and it was their calling to be the hunters. Vanya... saw things differently. She still bore the markings of the Fanged Spirit on her face as did all of her people, but she was not nearly as beholden to it as their Shadow-following counterparts.

And so violence ensued.

He told her how he had been left with the Jedi less out of choice and more out of it being a dead end, and she wondered suddenly how many others were like that. She probably shouldn't have been surprised, but somehow she had never pictured Jedi as being here because they "had" to be. For a moment, she wondered if he would simply leave the Order someday and use the skills he had learned for his own gains.

He ended off by saying that he was fully committed, but Vanya had to wonder. Perhaps there was a better way to phrase it.

If you could go back, would you have chosen to be a Jedi? It's not an easy life, she said.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

Warden Vanya put the question right back to him. That was something Master Valteire liked to do too. Those two really needed to hang out or something...

The warden put three more questions to him, a blessing in disguise perhaps because it gave Shaw more time to think and come up with a response. If there was one constant in Shaw's life it was that he was a slow processor. Something he was probably going to have to get over if he ever hoped to be out on the front lines like Master Valtiere. Shaw thought about it, taking his time to mull over her questions. If there had been other padawans around he might have felt a bit self conscious about it taking him so long to come to a conclusion, but it was just him and the warden. No one else around to judge him except for the trees and, of course, the squirrels. He considered what his master had said about the dark side, that it was a perversion of the force and that it inevitably enslaved its users.

Then he thought about Coruscant. His homeworld. The jewel of the galaxy snuffed out by darkness. About his family without a home. About all the people that had never even made it off the planet, that had lost more than just their homes. Jedi had to fight to bring good back according to Master Valtiere. To fight meant you had to stand for something. Jedi had to stand for something. If they wouldn't stand against the darkness to dispel it with the light, what would they stand for?

"No," he finally answered, still thinking it through. "They're not the same." Even if it was some necessary evil high about Shaw's mental capacity to understand, it was still an evil that should be fought against so long as it corrupted and controlled and wreaked havoc across the galaxy and in the lives of people. The dark side took more than it gave. His answer wasn't very profound, and it probably wasn't as well thought out as the warden probably would have liked, but the teenager wasn't opposed to correction either.

The answer to her next question didn't require any thought on Shaw's part. He had made his mind up months ago, back on Kashyyyk. "Yes," he replied. He would make the same choice again. That was one decision that Shaw hadn't regretted once. The Jedi had given him purpose. Something to live for. Something greater than himself. His master and Prani and Macote and Caul and the rest of them were family. Master Valtiere's words echoed in his mind. "I'm a Jedi now. It's who I was always meant to be." And he was still finding his way there every day.

Sliding off the tree trunk, Shaw looked over just in time to see that same squirrel appear in the mouth of the cave. It twitched its nose a few times at them and then took off. It scurried up a tree and became one with the forest. Shaw cleared his throat, trying not to think about it. Time for another question along a different vein. "Should uhhh," he jerked a thumb toward the cave, "Should we poke around her lair?" Was that what it was called? A lair? @Phoenix

 

[Vanya]

And why aren't they the same? she prompted him for more. He was right, but she wanted to make sure that he knew why he was right. To make sure he wasn't just parroting back to her what he thought she wanted to hear. Because no Padawan would ever do something like that.

She gave a nod as he talked about how he was meant to be a Jedi. She wasn't going to argue with that, and she sensed that he was telling the truth. He was genuinely satisfied with his place as as Jedi and she respected that.

He motioned back toward the lair and asked if they should go and check it out. Vanya turned to glance its way and paused for a long moment.

My instinct was to say no, but okay, she said. She had her own hesitations about it, but there might be valuable things within. Items they could use that weren't steeped in the corruption of the Dark Side or - even worse - something that might allow the hag to resurrect.

I'm not totally convinced this one was from this world, she said, thumping the dead hag's corpse with her boot. Sure, there was the sanctity of all life and all that, but Vanya wasn't going to lose any sleep over this one.

Lead the way, my friend, she motioned, letting him descend into the cryptic lair with her at his back. Suddenly, as he took point, perhaps he'd wonder if he shouldn't have just suggested leaving this place, but there was no turning back now.

@throwitintothefire

 

[Shaw Amaris]

"This is a test, isn't it?" Shaw grinned. Master Valtiere liked to test him too. Shaw was pretty sure he only passed about fifty percent of the time, but he always gave an answer anyway. Pass or fail, it was a learning experience, and he had a lot of learning left to do. "Because it's an application of the force," he answered. Life created the force, and death couldn't escape it. But how you approached the force, how you viewed it—that was a choice.

"The light side allows the force to flow through you. You surrender yourself to it, work with it as an ally as you look outside of yourself to see how you can benefit the galaxy." Shaw leaned down and picked up a cool looking stick. "The dark side takes the force to bend it to your will. It's the quick and easy path, straight to what you want without thinking about the consequences. But the force flows through all and is in all. We have no right to bend it to our will, to try and force it into shaping the galaxy into whatever reality we want."

Shaw stuck the stick into a large pile of mud and stirred it around. He was tempted to draw a mud mustache on the dead hag, but he was both afraid that it might make her move and assumed that Warden Vanya would not approve. "So it's not the same because it's a choice. Death is a part of life. A part of the force. But how we approach the force, our intentions—that's a choice."

The teenager looked over at her to see if that was the right answer or not before stepping toward the cave. This time Shaw led the way into the cavern, and about halfway down a foul odor hit him. It smelled nothing like the delicious food earlier. Shaw didn't even know what this smelled like. He just knew it smelled bad. That was about the moment he started to question whether or not they should poke around or just get outta dodge, but he didn't want to have to eat his words now. The teenager's stride didn't alter, trying to act like he wasn't totally checking out every shadow to make sure nothing jumped out at them.

Gone was the homey, welcoming feel the cavern had given off before. Now it was dark and cold and damp. Shaw thought he could hear something moving around in the water across the way but couldn't see through the darkness. The cauldron of stew that Elspeth had knocked over wasn't actually stew at all. It was some sort of green goop that still sizzled. "I... I wouldn't step in that," Shaw warned the Warden like that wasn't already obvious to anyone with two eyes. Or one eye for that matter.

A small light appeared in the palm of Shaw's hand, just enough to drive away some of the shadows so he could see where he was going. It was nothing impressive. Nothing like the beam of light Warden Vanya had produced earlier to blind the hag. Shaw wandered over to the nearest bookshelf, choking and swatting an arm when he walked straight into a large cobweb. He ran a frantic hand all over his head in search of a spider, asking in a voice pitched higher than normal, "Yo I don't have a spider crawling on me, do I??"

Then he picked up the first item on the bookshelf that caught his attention. A framed photograph of three hags, Elspeth on the far left. They were squeezed into the frame wrinkled cheek to wrinkled cheek and wart to wart. All of them looked inebriated, the one in the middle making a big show of puffing on a cigarra while the other two had their arms thrown around her neck and held glasses of alcohol in the other. Shaw squinted. Were those... fingers floating around in their drinks? He grimaced. They were wearing pointed party hats, and a large banner in the background read 106th ANNUAL COVEN CON 160 ABY.

"Yuck," Shaw said aloud. "So there's like... more of them?" he asked the warden, showing her the famed photograph. That was when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Did... did the room just move? Or stretch or something? Or was he just paranoid? @Phoenix